Automobiles and other vehicles are routinely painted during production. Often times, these paints have specific drying requirements, such as ranges of acceptable temperature and humidity at which the paints should be dried. Failure to dry the paints within these temperature and humidity ranges often leads to improper drying of the paints. Among other things, this can result in incorrect or undesired finishes to the paints, which could require repainting.
Air supply houses are often used to provide air at acceptable temperature and humidity for drying the paints on vehicles. The air supply houses typically condition air from the surrounding environment so that the air has desired characteristics. The conditioned air is then used to dry the paints on the vehicles.
Control of these air supply houses is often difficult due to several factors. These factors can include the number of process variables that affect the operation of the air supply houses, ever-changing ambient conditions, and shifts in active process constraints. As a result, air supply houses are often run at sub-optimal operation. Among other things, this typically causes excessive energy usage, excessive wear and tear on components of the air supply houses, and monetary losses.